P.S. I wouldn't try this with Gamecube discs. You may actually lose those bad boys to the city sewage system.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Apparently Flushing Game Discs Down the Toilet Magically Repairs Them.
I came across a NeoGAF discussion today about how apparently flushing your defective game discs down the toilet will pull a Merlin on an unreadable game. Now I have heard of many types of home remedies that are rumored to fix unruly discs (toothpaste, shaving cream, boiling discs in water, ect) but this method is certainly a new one. The authenticity of this trick and the odds of it actually working are pretty low if you ask me, but videos have surfaced online with 'tutorial' videos on how to properly flush your video games down the crapper. I do not actually condone flushing your games down the toilet, but I do entertain the idea of it working. I'll let you guys be the judge of this one. Maybe I will try it on my goofy copy of Astal for the Sega Saturn and see if it'll boot up properly after being drowned in my dookie water and make a video of it for laughs. Until then, I'll just leave this video here.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Top Ten Games of 2012: Day Four
7. ZombiU
In 2012, a new console launched worldwide that kick started the next generation of gaming. Nintendo released the WiiU, their first HD game console with upgraded HD graphics comparable to the current generation of consoles, a new tablet styled control pad, and integration with legacy Wii remote controllers, games, and accessories. The launch lineup wasn’t the strongest with a lot of ports of older games that we’ve all played before, but a couple of original titles stood out among the crowd and ZombiU was one of them. ZombiU is a first person survival horror title by Ubisoft that is Nintendo’s call to hardcore gamers. The game has been extremely polarizing among gamers and critics alike, but I absolutely loved it and I will tell you why.
ZombiU feels like Demon Souls and Dark Souls in a way. The game is very difficult and punishes you for trying to not play by it’s rules. That isn’t to say the game is frustrating though since the game indeed gives you the tools in order to succeed... if you know how to use them properly and can think fast on your feet. Ubisoft created probably the most realistic zombie survival game out on the market today and playing ZombiU is extremely intense. I remember the first time I heard zombies scream in the fog of the night, I squirmed in my seat thanks to the awesome audio design the developers brought to the table. Every inch you move may be your last, so ZombiU requires players to think fast and use their resources sparingly in order to survive it’s grueling world. I have yet to play a survival horror game released in the past five years or so that actually feels like surviving is a focus of the game. WiiU gamepad integration works really well by using the gamepad's touchscreen as a map, inventory management, and environmental scanner that allows the player to look at the screen and use the gamepad's gyroscope to seek out hidden items and clues within the game's environment.
The greatest part of ZombiU is how the game handles deaths. I can tell Ubisoft intended for gamers to die quite often while playing ZombiU, so the game has online leaderboards and modes set up to see who can survive the longest without losing a survivor. When the player does lose a survivor, there are no extra lives or continues; once you are dead it is game over. However, any progress the player made into the game does indeed save to where you can continue your quest by spawning a new survivor (who happens to be a totally different person with a different profession, age, race, and sex) to pick up where you left off.
If you do lose a survivor, all of the items and equipment you collected along the way is lost as well, but if you can find your old, zombified self roaming around where you perished as a new survivor, you can kill the failed survivor and steal back all of your gear. If the player dies a second time attempting to kill the survivor’s predecessor, that dead survivor along with all of his or her gear is lost forever and transferred to another player’s game via online game server where another player has the opportunity to kill your failure and take your gear (it even tells the player your Nintendo ID name and how long you lasted). These features associated with the survivors and the online system are really awesome and make ZombiU an unforgettable experience. The MiiVerse (WiiU integrated online message board system) activity associated with this game also boosts the game’s appeal by allowing players to pause the game, post screenshots of areas they are stuck in, and getting advice from the community when needed.
Sure ZombiU has some flaws and some of them are not as easy to give a pass to as others, but none of them ruin the amazing experience you will gain by playing this game. The melee combat can be a bit clunky, controls are a little stiff, the framerate a little jerky, and the graphics not up to par with what you would expect from an HD console. That being said, ZombiU still holds the record for being one of the most intense, frightening, and memorable horror games to come out in recent memory. This is why ZombiU is my #7 game of 2012.
In 2012, a new console launched worldwide that kick started the next generation of gaming. Nintendo released the WiiU, their first HD game console with upgraded HD graphics comparable to the current generation of consoles, a new tablet styled control pad, and integration with legacy Wii remote controllers, games, and accessories. The launch lineup wasn’t the strongest with a lot of ports of older games that we’ve all played before, but a couple of original titles stood out among the crowd and ZombiU was one of them. ZombiU is a first person survival horror title by Ubisoft that is Nintendo’s call to hardcore gamers. The game has been extremely polarizing among gamers and critics alike, but I absolutely loved it and I will tell you why.
ZombiU feels like Demon Souls and Dark Souls in a way. The game is very difficult and punishes you for trying to not play by it’s rules. That isn’t to say the game is frustrating though since the game indeed gives you the tools in order to succeed... if you know how to use them properly and can think fast on your feet. Ubisoft created probably the most realistic zombie survival game out on the market today and playing ZombiU is extremely intense. I remember the first time I heard zombies scream in the fog of the night, I squirmed in my seat thanks to the awesome audio design the developers brought to the table. Every inch you move may be your last, so ZombiU requires players to think fast and use their resources sparingly in order to survive it’s grueling world. I have yet to play a survival horror game released in the past five years or so that actually feels like surviving is a focus of the game. WiiU gamepad integration works really well by using the gamepad's touchscreen as a map, inventory management, and environmental scanner that allows the player to look at the screen and use the gamepad's gyroscope to seek out hidden items and clues within the game's environment.
The greatest part of ZombiU is how the game handles deaths. I can tell Ubisoft intended for gamers to die quite often while playing ZombiU, so the game has online leaderboards and modes set up to see who can survive the longest without losing a survivor. When the player does lose a survivor, there are no extra lives or continues; once you are dead it is game over. However, any progress the player made into the game does indeed save to where you can continue your quest by spawning a new survivor (who happens to be a totally different person with a different profession, age, race, and sex) to pick up where you left off.
If you do lose a survivor, all of the items and equipment you collected along the way is lost as well, but if you can find your old, zombified self roaming around where you perished as a new survivor, you can kill the failed survivor and steal back all of your gear. If the player dies a second time attempting to kill the survivor’s predecessor, that dead survivor along with all of his or her gear is lost forever and transferred to another player’s game via online game server where another player has the opportunity to kill your failure and take your gear (it even tells the player your Nintendo ID name and how long you lasted). These features associated with the survivors and the online system are really awesome and make ZombiU an unforgettable experience. The MiiVerse (WiiU integrated online message board system) activity associated with this game also boosts the game’s appeal by allowing players to pause the game, post screenshots of areas they are stuck in, and getting advice from the community when needed.
Sure ZombiU has some flaws and some of them are not as easy to give a pass to as others, but none of them ruin the amazing experience you will gain by playing this game. The melee combat can be a bit clunky, controls are a little stiff, the framerate a little jerky, and the graphics not up to par with what you would expect from an HD console. That being said, ZombiU still holds the record for being one of the most intense, frightening, and memorable horror games to come out in recent memory. This is why ZombiU is my #7 game of 2012.
Developers Ninja Theory/QLOC Really Knows How to Port a PC Game
Late last week, the PC port of DmC: Devil May Cry, Capcom's reboot of the action franchise, released on the PC a little over a week later than it's console brethren. Typically, PC ports of console action games of this type are not really marketed well or paid much attention to due to the need of a console controller in order to even properly play it. Most gamers would simply just buy the console version and call it day. Well if you are both a PC and console gamer, buying the console version may have been a huge mistake.
The PC port of DmC: Devil May Cry is actually pretty spectacular. Even on mid-range builds, most PC fans should be able to run this game at 60 frames per second easily, and even a high possibility of running it at 100 frames or more! Due to the fast-paced nature of the gameplay and the need for quick button presses, the console's barely 30 frames per second framerate was kind of a letdown. Not only will the PC version run beautifully on most modern video cards, but a slew of graphic configurations like higher resolution textures, anti-aliasing and shadows will make the console version look like a PS2 game. The difference the higher framerate makes on the gameplay is quite an eye-opening experience, and I highly recommend players with good PC rigs play the game in this manor rather than on a console.
Developers Ninja Theory and QLOC really knocked it out of the park with DmC's PC counter-part, and may easily be one of the best PC ports of a console game I have ever seen. I myself am not a big fan of this series, but I ended up enjoying the console demo and wanted to see how Ninja Theory portrayed the story and character of Dante. Love it or hate it, DmC exists and I for one really enjoy what Ninja Theory has done with the series. It may not be as difficult or over-the-top as the previous entries, but the game plays great and boasts from fantastic art work and level design. Give the game a shot, PC gamers!
Mad Catz Tournament Fight Stick Pro (Street Fighter x Tekken) Unboxing
My Mad Catz Street Fighter x Tekken fight stick came in the mail today. This is my very first arcade stick I've ever own, so I'm pretty excited to have it. So excited in fact, that I decided to make an attempt at creating my very first unboxing video. It isn't too exciting, but I had fun doing it since I always enjoy watching these sort of videos for some odd reason. I hooked the stick up to my PC and played some Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition today and performed much better than I expected for my first time on an arcade stick like this.
So without further adieu, enjoy!
Top Ten Games of 2012: Day Three
8. Assassin's Creed III
The Assassin's Creed series is not a franchise I am a fan of. I have been pretty vocal about how overrated I feel the series is since it has existed. It isn't that the games are really that bad, actually they're not bad at all. The original game in the series has always left a bad taste in my mouth due to the respective nature of the gameplay and the dull mission design. Assassin's Creed's successors have greatly improved upon the original game, but I still could not connect with the story, characters, nor stick with the game long enough to finish any of them. Assassin's Creed III changed all of that for me... kind of.
Now that Ubisoft has taken the franchise somewhere new and interesting, my interest in the series returned, giving Assassin's Creed III a shot. Taking place in America in the late 1700's before the Revolutionary War, ACIII introduces a new character named Connor, a Young Native American boy who trains in the arts of the assassin to avenge his mother's death, yet gets tangled into a much larger ordeal. This time around, the characters are much more interesting, have better motives for their actions, and get involved in much more interesting situations than ever before. I personally connected with Connor more than I ever did with Ezio or Altiar from the previous two games. The player does not even see the main protagonist of the game until roughly three or four hours into the single player campaign, in which the player takes control of a whole different character completely. Normally this would be an odd decision for a game, yet Ubisoft pulls it off greatly by giving the character plenty of backstory on this mystery character who plays a huge role in the story, thus making the game's story even more grand and epic in scale.
The story and setting really are the heart of Assassin's Creed III, because the gameplay has changed little from the past game. You still travel from mini-map beacon to mini-map beacon, stealth killing and sword fighting goons in your path and ultimately assassinating some major player in the story's plight. In order to uncover the full map, the game requires you to still climb on top of towers to get a view of the surrounding environment, and then jump into a hay pile. Aside from the new hunter/gather mechanics in the forests outside of towns, this is still the same ol' Assassin's Creed. Normally this would have turned me off, but the story and characters are so strong here that it kept me going through the game to see what happens next, and rarely are you disappointed. The game's multiplayer hasn't had any kind of drastic overhaul or anything, but it still includes a fairly unique multiplayer experience that some will love. The multiplayer really did nothing for me personally, though.
Assassin's Creed III is an odd choice for me, because the game still includes the same gameplay intact that always put me off in the past. However, this is not a game that I can scoff at lightly due to how well Ubisoft tells a story and sets the player in situations that allow me to forgive any issues I have with how the game plays. I honestly believe any Assassin's Creed hater should still give the game a shot regardless of how they feel about the series. Ubisoft has attracted what seems like many haters with this title, but maybe whatever they changed that turned people off on this year's game are the changes that got me on board. Assassin's Creed III is my #8 game of 2012.
The Assassin's Creed series is not a franchise I am a fan of. I have been pretty vocal about how overrated I feel the series is since it has existed. It isn't that the games are really that bad, actually they're not bad at all. The original game in the series has always left a bad taste in my mouth due to the respective nature of the gameplay and the dull mission design. Assassin's Creed's successors have greatly improved upon the original game, but I still could not connect with the story, characters, nor stick with the game long enough to finish any of them. Assassin's Creed III changed all of that for me... kind of.
Now that Ubisoft has taken the franchise somewhere new and interesting, my interest in the series returned, giving Assassin's Creed III a shot. Taking place in America in the late 1700's before the Revolutionary War, ACIII introduces a new character named Connor, a Young Native American boy who trains in the arts of the assassin to avenge his mother's death, yet gets tangled into a much larger ordeal. This time around, the characters are much more interesting, have better motives for their actions, and get involved in much more interesting situations than ever before. I personally connected with Connor more than I ever did with Ezio or Altiar from the previous two games. The player does not even see the main protagonist of the game until roughly three or four hours into the single player campaign, in which the player takes control of a whole different character completely. Normally this would be an odd decision for a game, yet Ubisoft pulls it off greatly by giving the character plenty of backstory on this mystery character who plays a huge role in the story, thus making the game's story even more grand and epic in scale.
The story and setting really are the heart of Assassin's Creed III, because the gameplay has changed little from the past game. You still travel from mini-map beacon to mini-map beacon, stealth killing and sword fighting goons in your path and ultimately assassinating some major player in the story's plight. In order to uncover the full map, the game requires you to still climb on top of towers to get a view of the surrounding environment, and then jump into a hay pile. Aside from the new hunter/gather mechanics in the forests outside of towns, this is still the same ol' Assassin's Creed. Normally this would have turned me off, but the story and characters are so strong here that it kept me going through the game to see what happens next, and rarely are you disappointed. The game's multiplayer hasn't had any kind of drastic overhaul or anything, but it still includes a fairly unique multiplayer experience that some will love. The multiplayer really did nothing for me personally, though.
Assassin's Creed III is an odd choice for me, because the game still includes the same gameplay intact that always put me off in the past. However, this is not a game that I can scoff at lightly due to how well Ubisoft tells a story and sets the player in situations that allow me to forgive any issues I have with how the game plays. I honestly believe any Assassin's Creed hater should still give the game a shot regardless of how they feel about the series. Ubisoft has attracted what seems like many haters with this title, but maybe whatever they changed that turned people off on this year's game are the changes that got me on board. Assassin's Creed III is my #8 game of 2012.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Top Ten Games of 2012: Day Two
9. X-COM: Enemy Unknown
The turn-based strategy genre is not a genre that generally interests me. I have dabbled in many of the RPGs in the genre (Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, Shining Force) and the combat games in the genre (Advance Wars, Valkyria Chronicles) and I could never fully grasp the gameplay nor have fun trying to learn. I blame this mostly on the fact that these type of games have little to no tutorial to ease the player into the mechanics, so I sort of get lost and confused and quickly give up. All of that was until I got my hands on X-COM: Enemy Unknown for the PC, a turn-based science fiction strategy game by developer Fireaxis. I have not played any of the previous games in the series, but the rave reviews and cool story the game sports had me curious to at least give it a try. I'm glad I did.
The best thing about X-COM is that my major complaint with turn-based strategy games has been addressed by Fireaxis; give the player a tutorial and teach us how to properly play! The first couple of missions consist of fun and engaging tutorials that fit naturally into the campaign rather than making the player wish they would be over as soon as possible. During these training missions, the player receives a good amount of story to set up X-COM's tale while also actually teaching the player how the rules of a turn-based strategy game works. When I'm playing X-COM, I do not feel like the game is smarter than I while also feeling like I am wrapping my head around a game of chess, yet I'm still spending a lot of time strategizing and thinking before I act. Thank you Fireaxis, because this is definitely the kind of game I needed to ease me into a game of this type.
One of the most surprising elements of X-COM is the squad building tools. You can name and edit each soldier in your squad, promote and level them up if they are able to survive combat, and add classes and loadouts to each one. The funny thing is that you start getting attached to your squad when you successfully make them survive each alien attack, so when you lose one of them in battle you will literally feel horrible afterwards. I remember the first time I lost a soldier that I had with me throughout the start of the game, I felt like I failed the mission before I even completed any objectives.
X-COM also boasts a huge base-building, research mechanic that allows for cool upgrades and new units/gear to become unlocked that also adds to the whole strategy and play style elements. The gameplay can be easily grasped by any player after the tutorials and the game stays challenging while also staying fun in the process. The core gameplay is fast with camera angles that keep the player into the action and on the edge of their seats. Controlling the game is a cinch thanks to great keyboard and mouse controls that are very easy to use and offer a wide array of commands that allow the player to make the best decisions possible. The PC version of the game runs very well on many types of system builds and includes very little bugs out of the box. Multiple difficulties exist as well for players new to the genre and veterans of the X-COM series so no one should feel left out here.
I am a huge sucker for science fiction stories and alien invasions, so the premise alone is what caught my attention with X-COM: Enemy Unknown. The fact that Fireaxis can take a gamer who cannot enjoy turn-based strategy games and make a fan out of them is a huge achievement in my eyes. X-COM sports a cool story, awesome gameplay mechanics with great tools to ease the player into them, and very deep upgrade and squad building tools that allows the player to tailor the game to their liking. The game also includes an awesome multiplayer suite for players to go head to head against other players, but honestly I have very little interest in this personally. Even if you cannot appreciate this genre, I highly advise everyone to give the game a fair shot. This is why X-COM: Enemy Unknown is my #9 favorite game of 2012.
The turn-based strategy genre is not a genre that generally interests me. I have dabbled in many of the RPGs in the genre (Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, Shining Force) and the combat games in the genre (Advance Wars, Valkyria Chronicles) and I could never fully grasp the gameplay nor have fun trying to learn. I blame this mostly on the fact that these type of games have little to no tutorial to ease the player into the mechanics, so I sort of get lost and confused and quickly give up. All of that was until I got my hands on X-COM: Enemy Unknown for the PC, a turn-based science fiction strategy game by developer Fireaxis. I have not played any of the previous games in the series, but the rave reviews and cool story the game sports had me curious to at least give it a try. I'm glad I did.
The best thing about X-COM is that my major complaint with turn-based strategy games has been addressed by Fireaxis; give the player a tutorial and teach us how to properly play! The first couple of missions consist of fun and engaging tutorials that fit naturally into the campaign rather than making the player wish they would be over as soon as possible. During these training missions, the player receives a good amount of story to set up X-COM's tale while also actually teaching the player how the rules of a turn-based strategy game works. When I'm playing X-COM, I do not feel like the game is smarter than I while also feeling like I am wrapping my head around a game of chess, yet I'm still spending a lot of time strategizing and thinking before I act. Thank you Fireaxis, because this is definitely the kind of game I needed to ease me into a game of this type.
One of the most surprising elements of X-COM is the squad building tools. You can name and edit each soldier in your squad, promote and level them up if they are able to survive combat, and add classes and loadouts to each one. The funny thing is that you start getting attached to your squad when you successfully make them survive each alien attack, so when you lose one of them in battle you will literally feel horrible afterwards. I remember the first time I lost a soldier that I had with me throughout the start of the game, I felt like I failed the mission before I even completed any objectives.
X-COM also boasts a huge base-building, research mechanic that allows for cool upgrades and new units/gear to become unlocked that also adds to the whole strategy and play style elements. The gameplay can be easily grasped by any player after the tutorials and the game stays challenging while also staying fun in the process. The core gameplay is fast with camera angles that keep the player into the action and on the edge of their seats. Controlling the game is a cinch thanks to great keyboard and mouse controls that are very easy to use and offer a wide array of commands that allow the player to make the best decisions possible. The PC version of the game runs very well on many types of system builds and includes very little bugs out of the box. Multiple difficulties exist as well for players new to the genre and veterans of the X-COM series so no one should feel left out here.
I am a huge sucker for science fiction stories and alien invasions, so the premise alone is what caught my attention with X-COM: Enemy Unknown. The fact that Fireaxis can take a gamer who cannot enjoy turn-based strategy games and make a fan out of them is a huge achievement in my eyes. X-COM sports a cool story, awesome gameplay mechanics with great tools to ease the player into them, and very deep upgrade and squad building tools that allows the player to tailor the game to their liking. The game also includes an awesome multiplayer suite for players to go head to head against other players, but honestly I have very little interest in this personally. Even if you cannot appreciate this genre, I highly advise everyone to give the game a fair shot. This is why X-COM: Enemy Unknown is my #9 favorite game of 2012.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Wasting Time: Week of January 23rd
Anyone who has taken a peek at my Backloggery page will easily see how massive my backlog really is. Adding any new major games to my collection isn't a great idea right now due to how many games I have to still finish. The issue here is that this week the highly anticipated PS3 exclusive, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, released with universal praise. It seems that Ni No Kuni was released in low numbers and has been flying off of store shelves fairly quickly, so I fought temptation to buy yet another big game and easily lost due to the high demand and the anticipation I've had for this game. So this week I have quite a bit on my plate. Lets take a look:
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
The current generation of consoles have not been too kind to the JRPG. Many that have released have failed both critically and commercially and many others have been massive disappointments. The only two to have seem to make any sort of impression on gamers this generation are Lost Odyssey (an Xbox 360 exclusive by Final Fantasy co-creator Hironobu Sakaguchi) and the Wii-exclusive Xenoblade Chronicles that US gamers literally fought to have ported over state-side. With the current generation about to fizzle out, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch comes out to give the JRPG genre one last hurrah and attempt to give fans a game worthy of such classics as Final Fantasy VII and Dragon Quest VIII.
Ni No Kuni is a Level-5 (Dark Cloud series, Dragon Quest VIII) developed JRPG that partners with Japanese animation mega-giants Studio Ghibli (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) to create a new yet classic styled JRPG to the Playstation 3. The game has achieve high praise among gaming critics and fans alike. It seems as if Ni No Kuni may be one of the best, if not the best, JRPGs in recent memory. I could not pass up on the opportunity to play this game so I picked it up and put about two hours into it so far. I have not played enough to really determine how good it is, but at the moment everything seems pretty fantastic. The visuals are gorgeous, the story and characters thus far are very strong, and the music is fantastic. Ni No Kuni has quite possibly one of the best overworld themes I have heard since Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. My only concern is that the battle system will wear out it's welcome and rely too much on grinding in order to proceed further into the game. I fully plan on making this game my primary game to play and will report how the game fairs as I dive deeper into it.
Persona 4 Arena
In anticipation of my arcade stick to arrive, I have been grabbing cheap fighting games as I come across them. Persona 4 Arena has gotten a lot of praise last year for being a very unique and fun fighting game and I had the opportunity to grab it very cheap recently. I popped the game in and played through the tutorial (which was more helpful than most fighting game tutorials) and a bit of the arcade mode. The game's fighting mechanics are fairly unique and require a lot of button combinations to memorize, many of them requiring three simultaneous button presses on the face buttons. Seeing as many of the counter and evasive moves require these intricate button presses, I am going to wait until my arcade stick arrives before I really learn how to play it. That being said, the game has some gorgeous 2D graphics and some impressive animations. The game has quite a deep story for a fighting game and takes place after the events of Persona 4 (which I'm currently still playing so I do not understand a lot of it). The game has found it's place into many gaming tournaments lately and the online play is suppose to be strong, so hopefully the online community stays afloat.
X-COM: Enemy Unknown
I have not played the previous editions of the X-COM series, and I typically do not play turn-based strategy RPGs due to not quite grasping the concept of them very well. X-COM: Enemy Unknown, the revival of the classic series, has found it's way on many "game of the year" lists and the reviews have been fantastic across the board. I gave the demo a spin and was quite impressed with what I played. I was able to snag a copy of the PC version cheaply so I started playing the game over the weekend and can easily see what the fuss is about. X-COM simply eases the player into the gameplay mechanics and gives you all the necessary information to properly play and understand the game before the game stops holding the player's hand. The missions are fast and fun, which makes the game a fantastic choice when you want something to play in small bursts. I'm only four or five missions into the game but I can honestly say I may have finally found a game in this genre even I can love. We'll see how it goes as I play more.
That is all this week!
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
The current generation of consoles have not been too kind to the JRPG. Many that have released have failed both critically and commercially and many others have been massive disappointments. The only two to have seem to make any sort of impression on gamers this generation are Lost Odyssey (an Xbox 360 exclusive by Final Fantasy co-creator Hironobu Sakaguchi) and the Wii-exclusive Xenoblade Chronicles that US gamers literally fought to have ported over state-side. With the current generation about to fizzle out, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch comes out to give the JRPG genre one last hurrah and attempt to give fans a game worthy of such classics as Final Fantasy VII and Dragon Quest VIII.
Ni No Kuni is a Level-5 (Dark Cloud series, Dragon Quest VIII) developed JRPG that partners with Japanese animation mega-giants Studio Ghibli (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) to create a new yet classic styled JRPG to the Playstation 3. The game has achieve high praise among gaming critics and fans alike. It seems as if Ni No Kuni may be one of the best, if not the best, JRPGs in recent memory. I could not pass up on the opportunity to play this game so I picked it up and put about two hours into it so far. I have not played enough to really determine how good it is, but at the moment everything seems pretty fantastic. The visuals are gorgeous, the story and characters thus far are very strong, and the music is fantastic. Ni No Kuni has quite possibly one of the best overworld themes I have heard since Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. My only concern is that the battle system will wear out it's welcome and rely too much on grinding in order to proceed further into the game. I fully plan on making this game my primary game to play and will report how the game fairs as I dive deeper into it.
Persona 4 Arena
In anticipation of my arcade stick to arrive, I have been grabbing cheap fighting games as I come across them. Persona 4 Arena has gotten a lot of praise last year for being a very unique and fun fighting game and I had the opportunity to grab it very cheap recently. I popped the game in and played through the tutorial (which was more helpful than most fighting game tutorials) and a bit of the arcade mode. The game's fighting mechanics are fairly unique and require a lot of button combinations to memorize, many of them requiring three simultaneous button presses on the face buttons. Seeing as many of the counter and evasive moves require these intricate button presses, I am going to wait until my arcade stick arrives before I really learn how to play it. That being said, the game has some gorgeous 2D graphics and some impressive animations. The game has quite a deep story for a fighting game and takes place after the events of Persona 4 (which I'm currently still playing so I do not understand a lot of it). The game has found it's place into many gaming tournaments lately and the online play is suppose to be strong, so hopefully the online community stays afloat.
X-COM: Enemy Unknown
I have not played the previous editions of the X-COM series, and I typically do not play turn-based strategy RPGs due to not quite grasping the concept of them very well. X-COM: Enemy Unknown, the revival of the classic series, has found it's way on many "game of the year" lists and the reviews have been fantastic across the board. I gave the demo a spin and was quite impressed with what I played. I was able to snag a copy of the PC version cheaply so I started playing the game over the weekend and can easily see what the fuss is about. X-COM simply eases the player into the gameplay mechanics and gives you all the necessary information to properly play and understand the game before the game stops holding the player's hand. The missions are fast and fun, which makes the game a fantastic choice when you want something to play in small bursts. I'm only four or five missions into the game but I can honestly say I may have finally found a game in this genre even I can love. We'll see how it goes as I play more.
That is all this week!
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